There’s a youth movement afoot at Whitman-Hanson High’s softball field, led by sophomore hurler Gabby DeLeon, who fanned 13 North Quincy High batters Monday in leading the Panthers to a 10-4 victory in Patriot League action.

DeLeon survived jams in the first three innings and held the visitors scoreless over the final four frames, when she collected eight of her strikeouts and allowed just two bunt hits. Outfielder Megan Youngelaus was the hitting star for W-H, with three RBI on a pair of hits, including a bases-loaded double in the fifth inning.

Panthers first baseman Krissy Allen also had two hits and two RBI, and turned in the day’s crucial defensive play. With two outs and the base loaded in the North Quincy fifth, Allen lunged to her left to stab a Laura Magoon liner, allowing W-H (3-3) to escape the inning unscathed.

“I don’t like the phrase ‘rebuilding year,’ but we are very young, with no seniors,” said Whitman-Hanson coach Sandy Lombardi, whose squad last year went 10-10. “We have three juniors, four sophomores and two freshman starting, and I am very pleased with how things are progressing. The nice thing is that this group will probably be together for the next couple years.”

“Gabby pitched 11/2 games last season,” Lombardi added. “I told her during the offseason that this would be her team this year, and I am very impressed with her work ethic, as she prepared and took lessons and got herself ready.

‘‘When you have a good pitcher in softball, she can keep you in every game, and I’m really happy we have Gabby.”

The Red Raiders, on the other hand, have a good mix of experience and youth, but a very short bench. In fact Monday’s bench was empty, with a couple players having to miss the game, and NQ (1-3) reduced to a total roster of nine.

“We did not get a large (player) turnout this spring,” said NQ coach Kelly Ginty, “so we’re used to playing with one or two subs ... or no bench, like today. I’ve been carrying only 10 players because we can call someone up from the JVs if we need them. Liz Kelly at shortstop, Kelly Thompson at second base, and Laura Magoon at third base are all seniors, who’ve played together since they were freshmen. Caitlin Bulger, our only other senior, is in her second year of varsity. So we have a lot of experience, but we’re also working in a freshman catcher (Sarah Franklin) and have a lot of sophomores, too.”

One of those Raider sophs was the acknowledged NQ star of the day as center fielder Courtney Campo banged out three hits in four trips, with an RBI. Franklin managed two hits, a sacrifice, and a walk in her four plate appearances, while leadoff hitter Kelly rapped a pair of singles.

Page 2 of 3 - “Courtney Campo has been doing awesome all year,” said Ginty. “She’s fast as lightning going down the line, and has become really good at hiding the bunt until the last second. And, she makes playing center field look so easy.”

NQ started fast, as singles by Kelly and Thompson set the table. After an out, Franklin laid down a sacrifice bunt that scored Kelly, but DeLeon struck out the next batter to escape the inning.

The bottom of the first was a nightmare for the Raiders, as three hits, three errors, a wild pitch and a walk allowed the Panthers to put four runs on the board. Panthers DH Steph Small collected an RBI with a single and Allen notched one of her RBI with another single.

NQ battled back for two runs in the second, with Campo leading off with a hit, advancing on a wild pitch, stealing third and scoring on a sacrifice bunt from Abby Mayo. Magoon had walked, moved up on the sacrifice and scored on a Kelly single, cutting the gap to 4-3.

The Panthers tallied three runs on three hits and a couple wild pitches in the second.

NQ opened the third frame with back-to-back hits from Madison Hally and Franklin. Hally tried to steal third and was erased on a superb throw from W-H catcher Caitlin Hughes. After the second out, Campo slashed another hit to score Franklin, for a 7-4 score.

NQ had a rally in the fifth when Franklin beat out a bunt with one out. After DeLeon fanned another Raider, Campo beat out a bunt, and then Sautter walked to load the bases. That’s when Allen made her sterling defensive play to rob Magoon and the Raiders.

“Not scoring in that fifth inning was a huge difference,” Ginty admitted. “It was a great play, too, because if that ball goes an inch either way, we had two runs easily.”

“The game was still 7-4 at that point,” noted Lombardi, “and with the bases loaded we really needed that out. Our first baseman made a great backhanded stab, just a real clutch play from Krissy Allen.”

WH padded its lead with three runs in the bottom of the fifth, with an RBI single from third baseman Maxine Vincent, and Youngelaus’ bases-loaded double to right-center.

“We’ve been doing pretty good as far as staying in every game,” said Ginty. “Defensively we try not to have that one bad inning, like we did today, because that’s usually been our only downfall. But we have been getting hitting all through the lineup.”

“Our improvement has been steady,” noted Lombardi. “The big thing with our younger kids is that, while they’ve all been playing rec league softball, they haven’t seen this type of pitching before, so it’s an adjustment. North Quincy’s pitcher had a very good changeup, for instance, and that was a very hard pitch to lay off of. We’ve got a big game coming up Wednesday against Silver Lake, which is unbeaten, so hopefully we come into that one with some momentum.”